What Is Internet and Gaming Addiction?
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Internet and gaming addiction will soon be added to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) V, the handbook of mental disorders used by mental health workers in the US. While the majority of Internet and gaming addiction is believed to occur in children under the age of 18, millions of adults are also hooked on the web as well as games and gaming chat rooms. People can become obsessed with their online identities and spend more hours a day in the virtual world than actually thinking about their own personal health and well-being.
If you or someone you love is addicted to online gaming or spends an unhealthy amount of time online, you are not alone. Thousands, perhaps even millions of Americans, have an unhealthy obsession with the worlds of internet and online gaming.
TIME: Internet Addiction Can Lead to Depression
This addiction is a clinical impulse control disorder which has similar effects as compulsive gambling. By becoming an expert at a game, a person releases a neurochemical known as dopamine in his or her brain, whose function is to make us feel good. For it to be a psychological addiction to video games, it rests on how much dopamine is released in those who are believed to be video game addicts, in comparison to the levels released during other positive lifestyle activities.
Source:WebMd, GameSpot.com
